2242: halva Feb 3, 2021

The sesame dessert, halva, is spelled in hebrew as חלווה—featuring a somewhat unusual digraph וו—but also חלוה and even חלבה can be found. The latter form is considered a misspelling, but it's not totally random; the Hebrew word for milk is חלב‎ (kholov), though halva contains no milk. Indeed, the two have nothing to do with each other, with the dessert named from the Arabic حلوى (khalwa) meaning 'sweet; candy'.

2241: טבע: Nature, Coins, and Drowning Feb 2, 2020

In Semitic languages, there is a connection between nature and money, or specifically coins. In Aramaic for instance, טבע as a root can mean both 'nature' and 'coins' in the sense of 'impressed stamp'. Indeed, it might be said that the ultimate sense is 'press down' and 'set characteristic' since this root also can mean 'sink' or 'drown'. These senses are held in Hebrew טבע and Arabic Arabic طَبْع‎ (tab). Consider too that in English, 'nature' has a physical aspect to it, but can also describe something innate character.

2240: The Transformation of 'Hide' pt. 2 Feb 1, 2021

Previously, it was discussed how 'hide' (verb) has a vast array of related words; many closer related than 'hide' as a noun. These may seem surprising on the surface, like 'sky' and 'shoe', but also consider that 'hide' has changed a lot over time too. Take for instance that the verb used to be weak, which is to say it would have conjugated like

hide-hided-hided rather than

hide-hid-hidden

In general, the tendency is to expect that as time goes on, the creation and productivity of these so-called strong verbs—verbs that indicate tense with changing the internal vowel—to decline.

2239: hide (v); hide (n); sky; shoes; and obscure—How Are These Related? Jan 31, 2021

Although there is somewhat of a connection between 'hide' as a noun and as a verb, the verbal meaning might be just as if not more closely related to words including: hut, house, shoe, and even 'sky' and 'hose'. The obvious connection between 'hide' (i.e. skin') and 'hide' as a verb is the idea of concealment, but these words diverged before Old English, and the connection is prehistoric. Some of the words listed above like 'shoe' and house' also have that semantic relation, and all the more so with 'hut' there is a phonetic one, but not all of them. In the case of 'sky', the original meaning of this word in Old Norse was 'cloud', and is related to other words like the Old English 'scūa' (shadow) and Latin obscūrus (dark; shadowed), again in the sense of covering. In the case of 'hose', both with reference to water and women's legwear, this also had the general sense of 'covering' etymologically, and is related to words that now have a vast array of meaning, from trousers (German 'Hose') and intestines (Russian кишка [kishka]).

2238: edify vs. edifice—Has the Religious/Structural Connotation Always Existed? Jan 30, 2021

Today, an edifice only refers to a building while 'edify' (and 'edification') relates to moral instruction. This apparent disparity comes from Late Latin when the meaning shifted from building something physically to building up a person morally.

Interestingly, though probably not directly relevant, the Latin root 'aedis' comes from '*aits', from the Proto-Indo-European *h₂eydʰ- (to ignite; fire)—also associated with the Ancient Greek: αἴθω (aíthō), the root of 'ether'. 'Aedis' had religious connotations (as in 'temple') but also secular ones, denoting general rooms.

2237: Maltese Jan 29, 2021

The Maltese language is a perhaps more exceptional at first glance than it looks. There are a few things about it that shine through even on the surface, such as how it is the only Semitic language with Latin alphabet (though with extra letters like Ħ ħ), the only Semitic language of the EU, and that it has considerable Italian and English influence, despite being descended from Sicilian Arabic. Indeed, not only does a sizable portion of the vocabulary take from Italian, but also certain aspects of its grammar, partly because of its lack of connection to Arabic through Islam. It is also more closely recognizable to a speaker of Tunisian Arabic than would be the case the other way around, but this sort of asymmetry is not really so rare around the world.

2236: Why Tu BShvat is called 'Tu' Jan 28, 2021

The Jewish holiday of Tu B'Shvat—which just ended if you read this at the time of publication—is named for the date: the 15th of the month of Shvat (שבט‎). 'Tu' (ט״ו) is not a number however though it is seen here and also in the holiday Tu B’Av. Indeed, Hebrew uses a quasi-decimalized numerical system for writing numbers based off the order of the alphabet, as with Greek numerals, but while numbers from ten (י), eleven (יא or 10+1), twelve (יב or 10+2) etc. just go in order that way with addition, 15 and 16 are represented ט״ו‎‎ (9 + 6) and ט״ז‎‎ (9 + 7) as to avoid writing out one of the spellings for a name of Gd. It just so happens טו would be pronounced 'tu', but in normal speech the word would be חמש-עשרה (chamesh-esre).

2235: Etymology for Clocks around the World Jan 27, 2021

The word ‘clock’ is derived from the sense of a bell, but other languages have even stranger origins for their words for ‘clock’ including ‘water thief’. In Old English, the word was dægmæl or literally ‘day measure’, from ‘mæl’ meaning ‘measure’ or ‘mark’ still retained in ‘piecemeal’ and of course the idea of a meal, eaten at regular times throughout the day. The Latin word is ‘horologium’, originally from Greek ὡρολόγιον (hōrológion) meaning ‘hour-count’, but the Greeks themselves used a term κλεψύδρα (klepsydra) literally meaning ‘water-thief’. Today that word refers specifically to an hourglass or water-clock.

2234: clock and cloak Jan 26, 2021

The words 'cloak' and 'clock' are related, but as little as as those two have to do with each other on the surface, they also might not seem to do much with the common root. They both come from the Medieval Latin 'clocca' which actually meant 'bell', though this is thought to be originally Celtic. That word itself it thought to be onomatopoeic, and related to other words meaning 'laugh'. The cloak was called such not for the function or sound of course, but for having a generally bell-like shape. More on clocks in the next post. ב״ה

2233: fawn & fawn Jan 25, 2021

Little fawns may be cute, but the verb 'fawn' and the noun aren't related. Indeed, the nominal form, such as to denote a young deer is closer related to the word 'fetus' than to the verbal form 'fawn'. While now 'fawn' and 'fetus' look to only share one, initial sound ([f]), looking to the Vulgar Latin *fetonem it should clarify things. This evolved into the Old French 'faon' from the Latin fētus (offspring) understood to come ultimately from a root meaning 'suckle', and referred to any young creature as late as the 17th century. 'Fawn' as a verb on the other hand is closer related to 'fain', originally in the sense of 'rejoice'. Those two words have both shifted meaning somewhat, with 'fawn' coming to mean 'exaggerated flattery; swooning', and 'fain' meaning 'happy, relative to the circumstance'.

2232: Nacirema Jan 24, 2021

'Nacirema' is a term used in sociology as a way to describe American or otherwise broadly Western behaviors in a way one might do for other cultures in a somewhat voyeuristic manner. The term was coined in 1956 as a reverse of the spelling of 'American' and was first used in the article "Body Ritual among the Nacirema" as a satirical piece describing mid-50's grooming, pharmaceuticals and basic aspects of history in the way some might describe foreign, tribal cultures. Though initially just published as a one-time event in American Anthropologist, several other papers by other authors came to use this term for similar effect.

2231: petticoat, cotillion, and cotte Jan 23, 2021

As mentioned, the word 'coat' comes from the French 'cotte', but this is not the only word derived from it in English. Now obsolete in French opting for 'manteau', it is really only found in the phrase cotte de mailles (chainmail). That said, it also gave rise, somewhat unsurprisingly, to 'petticoat' (though now this describes a type of skirt, it was once an undercoat, but also to 'cotillion', a type of dance. Cotillion, which once had the same meaning as 'petticoat' i.e. 'small coat', now has the sense of referring to any formal dance-event, but in the 17th century referred to a specific dance in which one would raise her dress enough to display the petticoat.

2230: Reborrowing Jan 22, 2021

Reborrowing is a process by which a word that is adopted into one language has a derivative that is borrowed back. A few examples are:

•'Anime' (English) from Japanese アニメ (anime) from the 'animation' (English)

•'Cookie' (Dutch) i.e. online information from English 'cookie' from 'koekje' (Dutch)

•Modern Hebrew תכלס [(tachles) 'directly'] from Yiddish תכלית [(tachlis) 'serious business'] from Hebrew תכלית [(tachlith) purpose]

•There is even double borrowing in the case of the English 'redingote' from French 'redingote' from English 'riding coat' from French 'cotte'.

These are usually doublets, that is to say a pair of words with identical origins and different meanings, but also included this would be borrowing calques, i.e. literal translations, such as

ready-to-wear → French prêt-à-porter (1951) → English prêt-à-porter (1957).

2229: clog Jan 21, 2021

A clog today refers to any sort of block, and much like with ‘block’ itself, its origins are essentially wooden. Although the precise root of ‘clog’ is unknown, it used to denote a mass of wood, related to the word ‘log’ and Norwegian ‘klugu’ (knotted wood). The word, once also used to denote large jewelry or testes only retains any connection to wood in the case of the shoes, clogs.

2228: scandal & slander Jan 20, 2021

Although the overall meaning has generalized, the word 'scandal' has always been negative, originally from Ancient Greek σκάνδαλον (skándalon) referring to a trap lain for an enemy to fall into. In that sense, it is also related to the Latin 'scandere' (to climb) but it also referred to something that causes a moral fall. In Ecclesiastical Latin 'scandalum' went from meaning something which causes malfeasance to something causing discreditation, though bear in mind this may not have only been cultural but also influenced from words like the Old English 'scand' (disgrace). Moreover, the word 'slander' is related via the Old French 'esclandre' (scandalous statement) with the L added somewhat curiously.

2227: Aubergine vs. Eggplant (& Why) Jan 19, 2021

Around the anglophone world, between 'eggplant' and 'aubergine', only the Brits and Irishmen favor the latter. First off, the name 'eggplant' comes as a description of the white variety [see photo], and not the more popular purple ones of today, though this same pattern is also found in other languages like Icelandic with 'eggaldin' or Welsh 'planhigyn ŵy'. Outside of that, the reason South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia also use 'eggplant' is that this term is slightly older than 'aubergine', with the written first record in the US from 1763. Now, the white variety are called 'garden eggs'. 'Aubergine' is not only popular in the UK but also much of Western Europe like in French and German because the more diverse varieties from Southeast Asia (brought via the Middle East), using the Arabic اَلْبَاذِنْجَان‎ (al-bāḏinjān) or literally 'the eggplant', originally from the Sanskrit वातिगगम (vātiga-gama) or 'plant that curls in wind'. The Arabic 'al-' turns to 'au-' in French, which is fairly typical. Other English speaking areas especially in Southeast Asia use the word 'brinjal'.

2226: balk Jan 18, 2021

The word 'block' these days pretty obviously means 'keep from moving', originally from a physical source, but there are other words like that too. 'Balk' for instance originally referred to a partition, or especially unplowed land on a field. The sense of being blocked by an obstacle then led to the modern sense of to make a blunder or to hesitate. It is even related to 'balcony', originally from the sense of 'beam', as was the case with 'block'.

2225: block Jan 17, 2021

The original sense for a block was that of a large, solid piece of wood. This was only generalized in the late Middle Ages to mean 'any solid piece', originally with the senses of an executioner's block, and then later a stump from which to sell slaves. Other Germanic languages have related words connoting trees or large planks of wood, but the English block eventually related to anything solid, usually prismatic etc. to the point as a verb (or as a noun in 'blockade') it came to mean 'prevented from moving'. This is also related to bloc, which in Old French simply meant 'log', but now in English means a solid group, especially referring to political entities.

2224: Lunate Sigma Jan 16, 2021

The Greek letter sigma is special in its design in a number of ways. It is the only to have 3 forms: Σ, σ, and ς (the last only found at the end of words), but even these are not the only way it's looked. The Lunate Sigma used in Greek of the Hellenistic period, was written in a C-like shape, now known as the Lunate Sigma (uppercase Ϲ, lowercase ϲ) called as such in reference to the Moon. This should not be confused for the Latin letter C/c. It only has two forms, laking the distinct word-final form that is found today. These days, it is mostly found in religious contexts or other decorative fonts.

2223: How a Scrivinal Error Changed a Word's Pronunciation Jan 15, 2021

Spelling is not particularly connected to pronunciation, as is obvious to anyone who's looked at English even a minute or two. It has, however, made an impact on those of adopted words over the years. For instance, another name for a 'gharial'—a type of Indian crocodile—is a 'gavial'. It is not because V and R have much to do with each other phonetically, but rather that 'gavial' emerged simply from a scrivinal error. The word in Hindi is 'ghaṛiyāl' but it is believed that the R became a V when a French scribe at the time wrote it wrong.